Key Terms for Ship Combat

Speeds:

Speeds in ship combat fall under one of three categories: Station Keeping, Sublight, and Faster than Light.

Station Keeping speed is generally between Dead Slow and All Stop. This is essentially the speeds at which a ship can travel on maneuvering thrusters alone, and by and large, are unsuitable for combat.

Station Keeping speeds are measured in mph. (Miles per hour)

Faster than Light speeds are those used outside of normal combat and are generally considered Ferry Speeds; those used to get from location to location, battle to battle, over long distances. Sadly the actual speed of a Fold has never been canonically established beyond the fact that on older Fold Drives the Time Dilation equates to 10 days of time passed in Real Space for every hour spent in Fold Space.

Faster than Light speeds are measured in lyph (Light Years per Hour)

Sublight speeds are where a ship spends the majority of its time. Combat and inter-system transit is handled within sublight. (Although Micro-Folds can be used in some instances. I.e. an Emerson Fold.)

Sublight speeds are measures in m/s (Miles per Second).

For comparisons sake: Mach 1 is 343 m/s. A more abbreviated way to display these speeds would be in percents of light speed. For example a Garfish at Flank Speed travels at .20 (20%) of light speed, which is equal to 37,200 m/s.

Distance:

Due to the speeds and weapons ranges involved in space combat distances are handled in miles for short ranges, in other words, ‘knife fights’ between capital ships, with Light Seconds, Minutes, and Hours for longer ranges. For all intents and purposes ALL combat will occur within Light Second range (or, Real Time range) whereas detection and tracking of a target can occur accurately at the Minute and not so accurately at the Hour ranges.

1 light-second

186,000 miles

1 light-minute

11 million miles

1 light-hour

670 million miles

Some examples:

Distance from the Earth to the Moon

1.282 light-seconds

Distance from the Earth to the Sun

8.317 light-minutes

Distance from the Earth to Jupiter

35.492 light-minutes

Distance from the Earth to Pluto

5.75 light-hours

So, a Garfish at Flank traveling from the Earth to the Moon would make the trip in 7.45 seconds, to travel to Jupiter would take 3.43 hours.

Since we are more interested in ship to ship combat, truly great distances such as the AU (92.9 million miles) and the Parsec (19 trillion miles or 3.26 Light years) will be the purview of FTL speeds.

Speed:

Each ship will have its maximum speed listed on its individual write up. There are a few levels of speed within the continuum of stationary to maximum speed listed. Speeds forward are termed as 'Ahead', speeds in reverse are termed 'Back'. Example: Ahead Full, Back Half. On sea going ships the reverse speed would only be a fraction of forward speed and for the most part this is also true of space going vessels. Speeds in reverse are generally half that of maximum listed. So, Back Full would be about equal to Ahead Half.

All Stop:

0% of Maximum speed

Dead Slow:

10% of Maximum speed

Slow:

25% of Maximum speed

Half:

50% of Maximum speed

Full:

90% of Maximum speed

Flank:

100% of Maximum speed

Flank speed can be exceeded by up to three times, but each multiple confers a stacking 18% chance of engine malfunction and shutdown, possibly explosion. This is rolled for each turn that Flank speed is exceeded. Further, each turn at any exceeded multiple there is a 1% chance that the artificial gravity system will fail turning the crew into a fine paste on the aft bulkhead. (Note that these rolls are only made while the ship is accelerating.)

Acceleration:

Each ship hull class will take more time to accelerate between the different speeds the larger the mass is. For example, to accelerate from a dead stop to Flank speed in a Garfish would take 37.5 seconds. An Ikazuchi doing the same thing would take 2.5 minutes. A Nupars-Zytsche (Tirolian Mothership) would require 10 days.

Hull Class

Acceleration

Examples

Frigate/Destroyer:

x.5 (melees)

Garfish, Hayes…

Cruiser:

x1 (melees)

Shimikaze, Tristar…

Capital:

x2 (melees)

Ikazuchi, Tou Redir…

Super Capital:

x4 (minutes)

Tokugawa, Izumo, Thuverl Salan…

Ultra Capital:

x8 (minutes)

Quiltra Queleual, Nupetiet Vergnitzs…

Planetoid:

x48 (hours)

Nupars-Zytsche, Fulbtzs Berrentzs…

Deceleration:

It will take exactly twice amount of time to decelerate as it did to accelerate unless you perform a Turnover and use your main engines to arrest your forward inertia, at which case you decelerate at the same rate you accelerated. There are other ways such as Aero-breaking and gravity slingshots but for open space running, either braking thrusters or a Turnover are your safe options. Of course, you can stop yourself even faster by hitting something bigger and more massive then you, which leads us to…

Collision:

Unless the impact is the culmination of a dedicated ramming attack, it is essentially a crash. Impact damage is based on three factors, Hull Class, Relative Speed, and Angle of Attack. Both ships can be traveling at maximum speed but if they are flying parallel the damage will be far less then if both ships traveling at maximum speed hit head other head on. When calculating damage, the largest Hull Class determines the damage category. Damage is applied to both vessels.

Hull Class

Dead Slow

Slow

Half

Full

Flank

Frigate

1D6x100

1D8x100

1D10x100

2D6x100

4D6x100

Cruiser

1D8x100

1D10x100

2D6x100

4D6x100

6D6x100

Capital

1D10x100

2D6x100

4D6x100

6D6x100

8D6x100

Super Capital

2D6x100

4D6x100

6D6x100

8D6x100

10D6x100

Ultra Capital

4D6x100

6D6x100

8D6x100

10D6x100

12D6x100

Angle of attack determines the severity of the damage:

Dead-on / Head to Head: x2 Damage

Rear end: x1 Damage

T-Bone: x1 Damage

Glancing / Sideswipe: Half Damage

More to Come!

Maneuver:

Every ship can execute a number of maneuvers in combat. Some are designed to confound the enemy and avoid being hit, others are meant to keep certain firing arcs pointed towards the enemy of choice, other are desperation moves to mitigate unavoidable damage.

Each maneuver costs an action to begin or end. Some maneuvers last for a short time while others continue until halted.

Deflection:

This maneuver is used when the captain is sure that his ship will be hit by a devastating attack. The object of this maneuver is to maneuver the ship in such a way as to cause the damage to play out over the hull rather than settle into one spot. This is the ship version of a Hand to Hand Roll with Impact. Unlike the player version the damage is not halved but is split between two adjoining areas of the ship. Since most ships have their hull MDC listed in thirds this means if the Amidships hulls section is the target that damage is split between either the Forward or Aft section (captains choice). Forward and aft hits can only split damage with the Amidships section.

Note: Only Heavy Beam attacks or Missile Volleys consisting of over 10 missiles can be deflected in this manner. Anything smaller has it’s damage either inflicted to fast or is to localized to play across the hull.

Emergency Dodge:

As a last ditch effort to avoid taking damage a ship can perform an Emergency Dodge. This is akin to a Hand to Hand dodge. The Emergency Dodge suddenly activates the ship's engines in an effort to move the ship out of the way of weapons that are being used against it. This action can be used at any point during a melee round, but it takes up the ship's next ship action, even if it is forced to take up the first ship action in the following melee round. This dodge can only be used to dodge a single attack and the attack can consist of any number of volleys, but the dodge cannot be used against guided missiles of any kind. For example, if at the same time, an attacking ship fired a volley of lasers cannons, a volley of particle beam cannons, and a volley of guided missiles, the Emergency Dodge maneuver could only be used against the volleys of lasers and particle beam cannons and would not be applicable to the guided missiles.

When used, this maneuver allows the ship to roll a dodge with a penalty of -5 to dodge, in addition to any other bonuses or penalties to dodge that the ship may possess, and attempt to roll equal to or above the attacker's strike roll for each of the volleys that were part of the attack. For each volley where the dodge roll was equal to or above the corresponding strike roll, roll the percentile dice to determine the percentage of the volley that was dodged, rounding all fractions up. For each volley where the dodge roll was less than the corresponding strike roll, the entire volley strikes the ship as normal.

For example, a ship is being attacked simultaneously by a single plasma cannon with a strike roll of 10, a volley of thirteen laser cannons with a strike roll of 12, and a volley of thirty particle beam cannons with a strike roll of 19. The defending ship attempts an Emergency Dodge and rolls a 15 to dodge. This dodge roll is sufficient to dodge the plasma cannon and some of the laser cannons, but not enough to dodge any of the particle beam cannons. The defending ship does not need to roll the percentile dice for the ion cannon, because since there is only one cannon to dodge. The defending ship then rolls the percentile dice for the volley of laser cannons getting a 43, which means that 43% of the thirteen laser cannons were dodged, this translates to be 6 lasers cannons (13 * 43% = 5.59 = 6). The end result of the Emergency Dodge is that seven of the laser cannons and all thirty of the particle beam cannons hit the defending ship, while the plasma cannon and the six of the laser cannons missed.

Envelop:

The envelop is a tricky maneuver to perform and only ships with hanger bays may attempt it. The object of this attack is to scoop up a smaller target, be it a ship or other small body, with one of the ships hanger bays. This is the starship version of a Hand to Hand entangle. The trick to this maneuver is that the target ship may not want to be enveloped. If the target is stationary or otherwise disabled and unable to maneuver, and will fit into the hanger bay dedicated to the attack the attack roll is a straight roll of the dice as per a called shot. If the target wants to be enveloped and is capable of maneuvering the attack roll is made as before. If the roll is a success the target ship is brought into the bay with no problems. If the roll fails the target ship is brought aboard and crashes into the hanger bay. (The pilot of the target ship may roll a piloting check vs. Crash landing at a -30%.) If the roll is a critical failure the target ship impacts the hull of the enveloping ship, doing damage to both. If the target ship is unwilling, the attack is made as above, but the target ship gets to dodge with bonuses.

Note: Fighter craft and shuttles that are unwilling targets cannot be enveloped unless they have been disabled first; these ships are far too speedy and maneuverable to be scooped up in such a manner.

Immobile Target:

Straight Called shot vs. 12

Willing Target:

Straight Called shot vs. 12

Unwilling Target:

Straight Called shot vs. Opposed roll with bonuses.

Evasive Maneuvers:

When a ship begins evasive maneuvers, it enters into an almost random pattern of movements that makes it hard to lock-on to and hit with weapons. However, unless reset, most targeting computers can compensate for the evasive maneuvers and negate any bonuses provided by it. When a ship is undergoing Evasive Maneuvers, it gains an additional +3 ECM against targeting weapons like missiles and all direct fire weapon, such as lasers and particle beams, suffer a penalty of -4 to strike the ship, but these bonuses are lost after 1D6 melees (1D4 for Haydonite ships) as targeting computers compensate for the ship's erratic maneuvers. Beginning or ending Evasive Maneuvers requires one ship combat action. To reset the Evasive Maneuvers, an additional ship combat action must be spent, although it can be spent at any time and will immediately reset the amount of time for target's to compensate for the ship's maneuvers.

Pull Alongside/Grapple:

This maneuver is, like the Envelop tricky to pull off and requires a captain to bring his ship not only into close proximity, but physical contact with a target ship. This is the first step in any boarding action. Before this maneuver can even be attempted both ships must match speed. This can be a lot harder then it seems, as no ship captain will willingly allow another ship to close to contact distance without a fight. As with the Envelope the action of forcefully docking with a target ship requires a straight dice roll as per a called shot. A success means contact has been made with the target ship. If the roll is a failure the ships impact, doing damage to each other using the lighter ship’s hull class to determine damage, and bounce off. A critical failure means the ships collide as per the collision rules. Thus it is advised that a targets ship’s capacity to maneuver be removed or one must catch the target ship unawares. It will take another two actions to latch on securely enough to begin boarding. However, just like a Hand to Hand entangle, the target ship may attempt to break free if it has the capability to maneuver. This is determined by straight dice rolls. The grappling ship must make two successful actions in a row in order to achieve a Hard Dock. Once two back to back attacks have been successfully made the ships are effectively linked.

Note: It is also a good idea to disable or destroy any ship board weapons that can fire on the boarding ship. Once attached the boarding ship becomes a stationary target to weapons fire. Damage from such shots is double as they are quite literally at point blank range and unless a 1 is rolled they will not miss. Target ship weapons can also be used to blast the docked ship free by targeting the docking apparatus. If this is done, even if the target ship is immobile regular boarding is impossible, although troops may be sent across under their own power.

Ramming:

Just as it sounds! You target an enemy ship, turn towards and slam into it as fast as you can. Note that only ships with a specially designed Ram Prow can execute this attack without taking serious damage to itself. A ship attempting this without a Ram Prow is executing a purposeful collision. Whenever a ship performs a ramming attack, it suffers 10% of the damage inflicted to the Ram Prow and 5% of inflicted damage to the Forward and Amidships third of the hull. Different ship sizes will inflict vastly disparate damage based on hull class. Planetoid class hulls are incapable of ramming although they can run down via collision an immobile target in it's path. Ramming also requires a set up time in order to execute.

Frigate:

2D10x100

30 seconds

Cruiser:

1D4x1000

1 minute

Capital:

2D4x1000

3 minutes

Super Capital:

3D4x1000

5 minutes

Ultra Capital:

4D4x1000

9 minutes

Rolling the Ship:

This is a basic space maneuver that almost all ships are designed to perform. This maneuver involves rotating the ship in a particular direction, while not altering the direction that the ship is moving in. This is useful to bring certain weapons to bear against a target or to present an undamaged section of the ship. By using a single ship action, a ship can be rotated along a single axis of rotation. For example, a ship could be rotated upside down or to face its forward section to the rear. This maneuver does not alter the direction that a ship is going in, so a ship that is moving away from a planet that turns around to point the front of the ship towards the planet will still be moving away from the planet. This maneuver is especially useful when a ship wants to bring powerful, forward facing weapons against an opponent behind it without slowing the ship down or attempting to get behind the following ship.